NEOPTOLEMUS AT DELPHI

And so Neoptolemus, the blood of Priam

and Polyxena on his robes, and Hector's

widow his slave, went to Delphi and challenged

Apollo, who had slain his father. An old man

and a young girl had fallen to his sword,

a city had been burned to ash; all the world,

Achilles' son saw, trembled before him -

the god didn't. What he had started at

Apollo's altar, ended at Apollo's altar;

like Priam's blood stained the altar

at Troy, his own blood was offered

as a libation to the god of the swift

bow at Delphi.

14.05.2023

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